


Colours In the Sky

by Alice_h



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Emotional Baggage, F/F, Fireworks, Fluff, Happy Ending, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Plans For The Future, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-28
Updated: 2020-07-28
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:08:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,052
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25571848
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alice_h/pseuds/Alice_h
Summary: Whilst watching a fireworks show to celebrate the end of the war, Catra and Adora reflect upon the past and their future together.
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra)
Comments: 11
Kudos: 62





	Colours In the Sky

**Author's Note:**

> Here's my entry for the 2020 She-Ra Fluff Bang. I really hope you enjoy it!
> 
> Thanks to Towi for proof-reading :)

“It should be starting any moment. You ready?”

Adora gazes up at the inky night sky, littered with the stars that Etheria had regained when the Heart activated and pulled them out of Despondos. She doesn’t imagine that she’ll ever get used to seeing these tiny specks strewn across the dusk, a reminder that they are in a vast universe teeming with life. But, for the next ten minutes or so, these distant suns are to serve as merely a backdrop for a much closer source of wonder – a fireworks show, part of the festival put on as a celebration of the defeat of Horde Prime and subsequent liberation of the planet.

As with most days now that Etheria’s magic was free, the weather has been beautiful. The sky was untouched by cloud throughout the day, and the pleasant warmth from the sun never became unbearable thanks to the lazy breeze that tempered the heat just enough. A small army of organisers had planned and carried out the festival in a remarkably short time – almost doubling in size the village of Elberon with tents and stalls that played home to music, dance, crafts and more. Anyone who could contribute in however small a way had been more than eager to come out in support of the Rebellion fighters who had saved them from Horde Prime’s control, while hundreds more turned up simply to indulge in the festivities and express their gratitude.

Adora and Catra were feted as heroes for much of the day, their bravery in activating the failsafe at huge risk to both their lives unsurprisingly having become common knowledge across the planet. And as people learnt what had happened in the Heart, and were seeing for themselves the healing that She-Ra’s power had cast to every corner of Etheria, they felt a need to express their gratitude; accordingly, a festival of celebration was held with She-Ra and her friends at the heart. While Adora, though still feeling undeserving of the praise she’d been receiving all day, was used to being the centre of attention at events like this, Catra had been much more uncomfortable with having people focus on her for so long.

Finally managing to escape after a two hour-long banquet, the couple, along with Melog, made their way to a remote viewing point on a clifftop to watch the fireworks alone. Now, Adora sits upright on one end of a wooden bench, still in the flowing white dress with gold detailing that she’d thought would be a more appropriate outfit for a celebration than her usual red jacket and white top combination. She has always been one for function over form, but today was a special occasion, a one-off, and required something a little more elaborate. She wasn’t wrong about the need to dress up, having received numerous compliments on her appearance throughout the day. At this late hour, however, it is starting to get more than a little uncomfortable.

Head laid on Adora’s lap, Catra is sprawled along the bench across her. Having successfully dodged Glimmer’s attempts earlier in the morning to get her in a dress that matched her girlfriend’s, she’s spent the last eight hours in the same suit she’d worn to the All-Princess Ball. The events of that night feel like a different lifetime, a bad dream even. And while she’d had misgivings about wearing the outfit again, it was one of the few things she had salvaged from the ruins of what used to be the Force Captain barracks. There was a familiarity about the suit, something Catra needed in such a time of incredible change, and having worn it before, she knew it would be comfortable. It has also given her a feeling of triumph, as though wearing it exemplifies victory over the person she used to be; a person she deeply regrets being.

Behind the two young women, Melog stands guard, having felt Catra’s desire to be alone with Adora for most of the day. They’re ready to chase off anyone who might try to interrupt her long-awaited respite, something that they sensed that Catra would meet with an explosion of anger. The small patch of scrubland where the couple are sat is almost in darkness, but the lights shining up from the festival below as well as the full moon above are enough to allow them to see each other. Even from their oasis of calm, however, removed from the bustle of the celebrations, they can still feel the buzz of happiness radiating from the thousands of people. The noise is a low murmur by the time it’s travelled through the air to reach them, but nevertheless, there’s an unquantifiable feeling, almost electric, that’s coming from the crowds below. Something unique. Something magic.

“Yeah, I guess…” Catra answers, with a tired disappointment in her voice. Throughout the day, she tried hard to throw herself into the celebrations, to keep herself calm around the throngs of people and try to enjoy herself, but as the day turned to dusk, the need to escape became insistent. She’s getting used to the Princesses – she even dares to call Bow and Glimmer her friends now – but hundreds of well-wishers gathering around her, almost all of whom she doesn’t know, is still not something she feels quite comfortable with.

Adora hears the detachment in Catra’s words. It’s the same tone she used to use back in the Horde for telling Adora that she was ‘fine’ after she’d just been chewed out by Shadow Weaver, and was clearly anything but. For a moment Adora fears that she’s done something wrong, that she’s hurt the woman she loves, but looking down into Catra’s eyes, they remain full of love. Though Adora doesn’t know this – and her girlfriend would rather listen to Entrapta ramble on about tech for hours than ever admit it – being alone with Adora like this is the only place Catra feels truly safe.

It’s a sensation Catra never imagined she would experience again, the tangible difference she feels when part of her touches Adora – hand in hand, a head resting on a shoulder, a light touch on a hip. Just the slightest contact and her mind fills with calm, as if her biggest worries become instantly smaller because she knows they can handle it together. When they were apart, and even the vaguest memory of that time still brings up intense guilt, Catra never really felt like she belonged anywhere. Nowhere felt like a home, not the Horde, not the Crimson Waste, not Prime’s ship. But now she realises it: Adora is home for her.

“What’s wrong?” Adora gazes into Catra’s mismatched eyes, just as she has done hundreds of times. Every moment of connection is just as breath-taking as the last, and there’s always so much conveyed in the way Catra looks back at her. She’s always hidden so much about herself behind the bravado and the attitude, but her eyes give away her real feelings – maybe it’s something only Adora knows how to do, but there are volumes of truth submerged in those blue and yellow oceans, just waiting to be read. This time, as ever, there’s love, but Adora sees something more when she looks closer – a slight sadness, a hint of pain, maybe – and it worries her. The war may be over, and they may both have finally found their way back together, but she doesn’t take Catra for granted. She knows they need to be more open with each other to avoid the mistakes of the past.

Catra doesn’t say anything right away; she doesn’t know the words. It’s not easy to balance the thankfulness that an entire planet had pulled together a celebration for her with the sheer aversion to having people look up to her – people she has given both peace and pain in equal measure. She almost tells Adora that she’s hated the entire day, but that’s not quite true, and it would sound ungrateful anyway. It truly feels like Etheria has never been so whole as it has been today; there’s been a strong sense of unity as the world celebrates its freedom, and the people haven’t let Catra discount her own role in making that happen. Gradually, she begins to pull together bits of feelings and emotions into a coherent sentence – it’s not perfect, far from it, but if anyone can understand what she means, it’s Adora. Catra takes a deep breath, and the sound almost makes it from her lips.

_BANG!_

The sudden noise overrides everything Catra is thinking about, flooding her body with fear-induced adrenaline. She bolts upright, Adora just managing to pull her chin back in time to avoid a headbutt, and hisses loudly. Ready to defend, Melog rushes to her side, their mane and tail having changed from blue to a jagged, fiery red in mirror of her terrified reaction. Catra’s heart is thumping, her muscles twitching as they ready themselves to fight, but there’s a touch on her upper arm. Adora’s touch.

“Hey, it’s okay,” Adora whispers, “It’s just the fireworks starting.”

Catra falls silent, the jerky movements of her body stopping almost immediately as she starts to relax again. Her breathing is still rapid, but she’s able to control it – Perfuma taught her a little trick to calm herself down by pacing her breathing, and it works surprisingly well. _Damn hippies, who’d have thought they were so useful?_ she laughs to herself, an attempt to subside her frenzied mind with a little humour. Though her heart is still racing, Catra’s over the worst of it, and she swivels her feet around to the floor in order to sit upright. Adora almost unconsciously drapes an arm around her shoulder, pulling her closer. There’s only a fraction of a second of resistance before Catra leans in, shuffling her legs across to press against Adora’s and leaning her head back onto her girlfriend’s chest.

_Four trails of a brilliant yellow, so intense they are almost white, shoot into the air, each blossoming out into a golden flower with a muted boom._

Adora places a distracted kiss on the top of Catra’s forehead, still gazing up at the sky, “It’s beautiful, isn’t it? I never saw fireworks until I…”

‘Left the Fright Zone’ is how she wants to finish the sentence, but a pang of remorse stops her. It has been years, and though they found their way back to each other, Adora knows how much her leaving the Horde hurt Catra. It’s still a sore point, and something she knows they’ll need to work through together, even though her girlfriend is beginning to understand her reasons for abandoning the Fright Zone. She can’t stop the memories flickering rapidly through her mind’s eye: the attack on Thaymor, running from the visions in the Crystal Castle, being captured in the Crimson Waste, their time in the Portal… They still hurt, and there’s almost a tear in her eye as she reflects upon the time they were apart; how those years could have been different if they had just been honest with each other. She pulls Catra in, implicitly reassuring herself as much as her girlfriend that they were no longer taking different paths. Now they walked as one.

Catra knew instantly what Adora was about to say too, and her stomach starts to twist into knots just thinking about it. She knows Adora still feels guilty, and there are times it still hurts, but holding onto any bad feelings at this point benefits neither of them. Catra’s forgiven her, at least in her head; actually saying it out loud would feel a little arrogant, maybe even a bit hypocritical given that Adora has done far less to warrant forgiveness than she has. Her actions in the past have been indefensible, and it’s been bothering her since she returned to Etheria – aside from some of the Princess’ initial reactions, no-one seems to want to talk about the specifics of the hurt she’s put them through. Of course, Catra doesn’t _want_ to re-tread the ground and be reminded of her mistakes, but maybe she needs to in order to stop feeling like an outsider with Adora’s friends.

_Another quartet of warm orange fireworks explode in the sky, this time joined by two crimson blooms higher up, perfectly placed between the two pairs._

“Adora?” she’s not convinced she wants to be as honest as she’s about to be, but if there’s anyone she can open up about her deepest insecurities to, it’s her girlfriend, “The reason I’ve been… the reason I wanted to get away so quickly, it…”

“It’s OK. Go on.”

“I don’t deserve it,” Catra wants to end her sentence there – reasoning that surely Adora would know what she meant by that. But the moment she’s finished saying those words, it feels incomplete, like the air is tangibly thicker with the things she left unsaid, and that Adora has already noticed it too. She takes another slow breath to help herself open up further, “I’ve spent most of my life causing pain to these people, I’m just not… How can they even want me here? I’m not a hero like you.”

Adora feels her heart sink upon hearing those words. It hurts her deeply to know that Catra’s mind is still mired in her mistakes, and she understands why, but they finally have a future together where they can put the last few years behind them properly. Even so, Adora can’t just tell her to ‘get over it’ or stop thinking about what must be the lowest moments of her life, she knows it’s not that easy; all she can do is remind Catra of the joy she brings now they are together, that their future will be different to what came before, “You _are_ a hero. You’re my hero.”

There’s an undignified snort from Catra as she tries, and fails, to stifle a laugh. She knows Adora’s trying to be genuine and reassuring, she always is, but this time she has unwittingly dropped into cliché. Catra’s embarrassing eruption into laughter sparks a similar reaction in Adora, and for several glee-filled moments, the two young women are lost to fits of giggles that instantly lighten the mood between them. It’s liberating, a new-found freedom from the seriousness of Catra’s introspective doubts about her self-worth.

_A pair of intense trails rocket up, almost vertically, bursting noisily into vivid cyan that momentarily lights up the world around them._

“Ugh,” Catra scoffs when she can finally control the laughter, a couple of tears still streaming down her cheeks, “You are so corny. _So_ corny.”

Adora playfully sticks her tongue out at her girlfriend, wearing a goofy grin across her face, “Yeah, but you love me.”

“Yeah, I _do_ love you,” she smiles back warmly, still feeling her heart skip a beat whenever she gets to say those words. She will never tire of it.

_A fierce red globe of sparks flourishes almost silently in the air above, the golden fireworks that flank it seeming almost dull in comparison. The dusk glitters with the remnants, tiny sparks of red fall downward before burning out and being swallowed by the night._

“Seriously, though, Catra,” the amusement drops from Adora’s face a little as her tone becomes more sincere, “I wouldn’t be here without you. I was ready to absorb the magic of the Heart alone, as Adora not She-Ra, knowing that it would be the end of me. But you saved me. You put yourself at risk to stop Prime from corrupting the Heart; _you_ taught me that the power that comes from love is stronger than he was, stronger than even She-Ra is, and that power saved us all. So, yeah, you really are a hero.”

Catra looks away in an attempt to hide her blushing, but she’s given away by the pinkish tinge creeping across Melog’s mane. It was the one downside to having them able to sense and mirror her emotions – she wasn’t able to hide anything from Adora anymore. She wonders, though, if that is something she should welcome; after all, it was finally being honest and opening up to Adora about how she felt that not only helped her survive the failsafe, but also allowed them both to finally admit their love for each other. She’d always tried to push down her emotions, to stop people using them to take advantage, but since meeting Melog, Catra hadn’t been able to do that so easily. And she has never felt so fulfilled.

_The display above builds up in intensity, alternating florets of jade and vermillion with little pause between them. Each explosion follows another in perfect rhythm as the sky lights up with colour._

If Adora has noticed the colour flushing across the alien’s body, she’s ignoring it. Catra’s silence tells her that she’s still having trouble believing her words – and she understands why – but her girlfriend’s role in defeating Prime, in bringing happiness back to Etheria, was critical, and Adora needs her to believe it.

“I’m so proud of you, Catra,” Adora’s hand slowly strokes her wrist, and she feels her girlfriend loosen up in her arms, “I see how hard you’ve been working on yourself, truly I do. I saw how much it hurt to face Glimmer and Entrapta the first time, and how brave you were to admit you were wrong. And I know how much you’re trying to do to be a better person, it’s just... you’re incredible, Catra. I couldn’t have done any of this without you, and now it’s all over, we can be happy. Together.”

_Lower to the ground, streaks of brilliant white twist their way into the sky, leaving their trails hanging in the air before dissipating silently to darkness._

“You really think that?” she knows Adora believes what she’s saying and asks the question more to seek reassurance for herself than to make her girlfriend question her words. Despite knowing that the war is over, that there’s no more fighting, no more Horde and Rebellion, Catra still finds it tough to let herself believe that there’s real happiness ahead of her, “Even after I…”

Adora shuffles her body to make herself more comfortable, making sure her movement doesn’t disturb her girlfriend. She wants to sit upright, take herself out of the slouch that they’ve both drifted into while they’ve been talking, because she thinks a less casual posture will make her seem more confident and honest, “Yes, Catra, even after everything. You can’t change the past – everything that happened while we were apart is always going to be part of our history – but you know what you can change?”

“Hm?”

“This moment right now. And the next one. And the one after that,” she pauses to let Catra fully take in her words, “What matters most is the person you are now, the person you will be tomorrow or next year – and that person is still going to be the woman I love. Do you remember when you asked me what I wanted? Well now I’m asking you, and I guess myself too, what do _we_ want? What does our future together look like?”

_High above, the dusk appears to explode into a cluster of champagne-coloured flickers haphazardly dancing about against the charcoal backdrop. They fade away with a quiet crackling._

It’s not a comfortable feeling for Catra to think about Adora’s question, much as she wishes it were. Contemplating spending the rest of her life with the woman she loves should be a welcome idea, her mind should burst with plans and desires to make their years together fulfilling and enjoyable. But there’s something inside that makes her body tense, causes her brain to start screaming at her to run from this happiness. No-one has ever asked Catra what she wants her future to be, not properly; no-one has allowed her this freedom to dream and the opportunity to make those dreams come true, and it’s no wonder that it makes her anxious. Every future that she was promised, that people told her she was destined for, was taken from her until she learned not to expect anything positive. Until now.

Even though Catra knows that nothing can ever come between her and Adora again, it’s still overwhelming to think about their future together, as though it’s only ever going to be a wild dream. She has no idea where to start to plan for a life she never expected to have, and no frame of reference for what that life should be – a Horde upbringing didn’t exactly prepare you for a long-term relationship with someone you love. In a strange way, she’s afraid to even contemplate the notion of her and Adora growing old together, as if the thought alone would tempt fate and cause them to part. The fear of losing the woman she loves keeps her restrained, immobilised by the idea that she could squander the best thing that has ever happened to her.

_A rapid succession of amber fireworks flares up, like a field of asters in the air above their heads. As each grows fainter, more shoot up to take their place, turning the heavens into a meadow of light._

“I don’t… I don’t know,” she stumbles over her words, uncertain about whether she’s even allowed to say what she wants, or whether that just risks more rejection. And what does Adora want to hear anyway? Is this a chance to make life-changing plans, or just discuss which of the festival’s food stalls to raid and fill their pockets for the walk back to Bright Moon? Catra can almost hear the slightly surprised “oh” that Adora will respond with when she inevitably misreads the situation – but there is one thing she’s been thinking about for a few days. Though it’s a gamble, she tests the water, “There is… there’s maybe something I kinda… want for our future or whatever.”

Adora hears the apprehension in her voice, momentarily clutching her girlfriend tightly in a silent show of reassurance. She knows the life Catra’s had until recently, and how that must undoubtedly be making her worry that she will only get more of the same, but Adora firmly believes that life is over for her. The two of them are together, they love each other, and they’re going to grow old together, blissful for the rest of their lives. She’s resolute in her determination for her and her girlfriend to have their happy ending, and to ensure that Catra knows how much she wants it to be made real, “Anything. Just tell me and I’ll try and make it happen.”

“I was just wondering…” she trails off as soon as she hears the fear in her own voice. And though she fakes confidence when she speaks again, Adora’s eyes are trained on Melog, whose darkened mane and defensive posture once again give away Catra’s true feelings – her guilt at asking for something that she sees as selfish, “I don’t want to live in Bright Moon forever, okay?”

Catra immediately pulls away from Adora, certain that she’s just insulted her girlfriend. Bright Moon has been Adora’s home for years, much longer than the few days Catra has been living there, but it didn’t feel like _home_ home. She’s not exactly sure why; the first night in the castle she’d been expecting to be used to the bustle of staff and people coming in and out at all hours – after all, that was what it was like in the Fright Zone. She assumed it would be easy to readjust to living somewhere so full of people, just as life in the Horde was. But from the moment she’d walked in, hand in hand with Adora, Catra had wanted more peace, more space – she’d wanted it to be just the two of them.

_A single rocket flies upward, bursting with an echoing crack into a bright cerise more vivid than anything that came before. It is joined moments later by an equally dazzling golden bloom._

“You don’t like it there?”

Catra shrugs, “It’s okay. But we don’t particularly get much privacy with Sparkles about.”

“She’s _still_ sorry about yesterday! And besides, how was she to know you weren’t dressed?” the memory of Catra diving across their bedroom to hide under a blanket whilst Glimmer stood, mortified, makes her laugh, “But you’re right – maybe we should get our own place. You know, something cosy and quiet where we can just, I dunno, cuddle or whatever.”

Relaxing a little now she knows Adora doesn’t entirely hate the idea, Catra gently drops back onto her girlfriend. She’s allowing her mind to run away with the idea of living in a little forest cottage, the smell of cooking drifting through from the kitchen while the two of them are curled up together on the sofa drifting in and out of sleep. Before she knows it, Adora’s pointing out the smile that crept over her face, and her being caught makes her blush, “I wasn’t… no! It was just… Shut up, Adora!”

“I’m not laughing at you,” Adora reassures her girlfriend with a soothing voice, knowing how she can often be preoccupied with the idea that she’s being mocked, “Tell me what you were imagining, I’m curious.”

It takes Catra a few moments to gain the confidence to overcome the part of her that wants her to stay quiet. She’s never shared her dreams with anyone but Adora, and for most of her life, those dreams were merely what she thought she was expected to aim for, not what she truly wanted. The freedom to open up about her ideal future is still new to her, but she trusts Adora not to shoot her down and destroy her confidence, “I was just thinking about how we could live in a quiet part of the forest and maybe have a big garden where we can grow all our food. Something like that anyway.”

_Chartreuse yellow orbs burst out from a single point on the ground with a high-pitched whistle, the trails making them appear like snowdrops as they fade into the inky backdrop._

Adora beams with a proud smile, only partly because she’s been thinking about something similar from the moment Catra mentioned moving into their own place. But the bulk of her pride comes from seeing her girlfriend believing in her own future. This is the same person who the previous year had thrown the switch on a dangerous scientific experiment that almost ended reality. The same person who, less than two weeks ago, begged Adora to abandon her to an almost certain death in space. The same person who ran away from the Rebellion camp because she believed she was ‘a distraction’. And now that person is in her arms, sharing her ideas for the two of them to have a happy life together. It brings a tear to Adora’s eye to know that after so long, after so many times when she didn’t see a future, Catra is starting to see a way forward. A way forward for them both.

“That sounds beautiful. I love the idea of a quaint little cottage in the woods, just the two of us, or maybe…”

Adora silences herself, though she expects it was far too late for Catra not to have picked up on her misstep. It’s a desire she’s never told anyone about, the intention to have children, but it’s been something burning away inside for years. She knows she’s not the most maternal of people, and she’s not even sure where the idea came from – maybe it’s the need to prove to herself that she’s better than Shadow Weaver, that she _can_ be a better mother – but she’s wanted it for a long time. Just the thought of a tiny version of herself running around their home fills her heart with a kind of joy Adora has rarely experienced. She lets herself get carried away with the fantasy – her and Catra walking their child to school on a winter’s morning, the three of them sat at the dining table on a rainy afternoon drawing and painting, long walks in the forest on a summer’s day, their kid skipping along in front of them. It’s a vision of perfection for her, but whether Catra feels the same is another matter.

“Or maybe what?”

Adora speaks quietly, her sudden shyness an effect of the guilt she feels about wanting a family. There’s deep irony in the fact that she takes pride in Catra’s ability to start sharing her fantasies, yet her own still come with a heavy reluctance to do the same, “Or maybe both of us with a little one running around.”

“Melog’s not that small, they’re-”

“I don’t mean Melog,” she interrupts, the words bursting out of her in a way that she fears comes across as rude, though Catra doesn’t show any sign of interpreting it that way, “I… I’d like to maybe one day have a kid.”

Her girlfriend’s response tumbles from her mouth impulsively, “Absolutely not!”

Adora’s gaze drops to the floor, disappointed to have been shot down so unceremoniously. Her dejected expression makes Catra begin to regret her hasty reaction. She’s not completely opposed to the idea that she and Adora could have their own family, but her fears completely overtake her when she thinks about it. Working on herself to be enough for Adora is one thing, but she feels a long way from being responsible enough for a child – and she’s not really had the greatest role model.

_Three more explosions light up the sky, an intense bright yellow ball skirted by two complementary flowers of deep tangerine._

“I’m sorry, Adora, I didn’t mean to snap at you like that,” she’s genuinely remorseful for a moment, but her attention quickly turns to how she will phrase the explanation, especially when it means bringing up _her_ , “It’s just… What if I’m not good at it? What if I don’t know how to look after a kid? What if I end up treating them like… like Shadow Weaver?”

“You are nothing like her,” Adora is firm, but stops short of reprimanding her girlfriend for what is, at least in Catra’s mind, a justified concern, “Nothing at all. You have goodness in your heart and could never be like… like she was. Any child would be lucky to have you as a mother, because you would care about them so deeply. I don’t know what we’d have, of course, but whatever we have you’d do great. I mean, look at Melog; I know they’re not the same as a child, but the principle is…”

The beleaguered look on Catra’s face eventually makes Adora notice that she’s rambling on, intent on changing her mind without stopping to think about how her girlfriend might actually feel about the matter. She halts herself, taking a few seconds to become calmer before apologising for getting so carried away.

“I’m sorry. We can talk about it another time, right?” she gives Catra a knowing smile, one that mixes regret and understanding in equal measure. It works – the few scraps of panic that had begun to build in the feline disperse as though they were never there, and she responds with a grin of her own that accepts Adora’s apology. With that, their conversation abruptly ends, but the silence doesn’t feel awkward or tense. Where once these moments would have seen both young women anxiously brooding over the things they desperately wanted to say to each other, but couldn’t, such silences are now comfortable. The two of them can sit together like this, without words, and everything just feels _right._

Adora finds herself staring into the deep violet canvas of the stars, still awed by the sheer number of distant worlds that must be contained within the small patch of sky in her eyeline. It makes her feel small, a single grain of sand on a beach, in comparison to the planets and galaxies that lay hidden in the darkness. Adora has seen the size of the cosmos for herself. She’s sped through the stars at speeds beyond anything she has known, travelling for days; but she could travel for a lifetime and still never see a fraction of all there is in existence. She cannot think of words to accurately describe the vast expanse of space that their tiny planet inhabits; maybe there are none. And if the universe’s size extends beyond anything anyone on Etheria could understand, how impossibly fortunate must she be that she occupies the same infinitesimal fraction of space as Catra?

That alone is remarkable, but Adora knows the universe is old, billions of years in age according to Entrapta. There is unimaginable time both before and after this moment, yet somehow, she managed to exist in the same instant as her soulmate. Her life, as her girlfriend’s, is the blink of an eye in the trillions of years past and future, but their lives blink together. The chance that they would both be together in the same place, at the same time, amongst the infinite chaos of the universe, is tiny. The odds are so minuscule that they would be considered impossible by any measure. Yet the woman she loves, the one person whose love no version of her in any other time or place could surpass, sits next to her. They have faced the impossibilities of the universe and won.

_Pairs of brilliant blossoms share the sky, two after two, in an array of intense colours that drift in the slight breeze._

Adora links Catra’s hand in hers. It’s an almost subconscious move, but it serves as a defiant gesture towards a universe that did so much to keep them apart. It’s not just a reflex for Adora, but for Catra too, as her fingers silently close around those of her girlfriend, binding them tightly together. There’s something perfect about this instant of time, a feeling Adora cannot quite identify, but if time were to freeze in this single second, she would be happy.

“I’m so lucky to have you,” she speaks with a sigh, almost talking to herself, though she fully intends Catra to hear. It’s more than a simple statement; it’s an expression of joy, of gratitude, a welcome reminder that they have taken on so much and emerged united. Adora doesn’t imagine there will ever be a day that she will take what she has for granted, they’ve been through too much for her to let that happen.

_A quartet of ivory missiles whistle upward, returning to the dusk and being replaced by another set that soar higher, and a third set that go higher still._

Catra turns her head slightly upwards, just enough to glimpse Adora’s eyes with her own, and to let her girlfriend see the affectionate, if slightly mischievous, grin on her face. She knows Adora loves that smile, it’s as though she warms up instantly upon seeing it, and that warmth reflects back to Catra herself. Behind the smile, she’s preparing a self-deprecating comment about how only Adora could have luck _that_ bad, but something stops her. She has been trying so hard to be a better person since she was rescued from Prime’s ship, and though it has been difficult, Catra has managed to become kinder – to Adora, to Bow and Glimmer, to the people who once considered her an enemy. But being kinder to herself has been much tougher.

She and Perfuma have talked about it briefly in the meditation sessions that the Plumerian Princess had roped her into. Focusing on herself, and her own fears and failings, is not something Catra enjoys at all, and it’s been slow progress working on herself. There’s so much she needs to do, so much she needs to improve, but Adora is the motivation that keeps her going. Her girlfriend deserves the best version of herself that she can be. And as she thinks about brushing off the compliment, making a joke at her own expense, something Perfuma said to her starts ringing around her mind:

“If you wouldn’t say it about Adora, don’t say it about yourself.”

In that moment, Catra makes herself a promise. She vows that she will never needlessly put herself down again, that she will never say negative things about herself that aren’t warranted. And maybe this is an impulse, something she hasn’t properly thought through; but equally, it may well be that impulses like these are what she needs. She needs to be, _wants to be,_ the girlfriend that Adora deserves, and that starts with working on her own flaws. With renewed confidence, the self-critical response is erased, replaced with a simple, but tender, “I’m lucky to have you too.”

Adora spots the playful smirk vanish from her girlfriend’s face and senses the slight difference in the way she talks. There’s a seriousness, a maturity that is almost, but not quite, out of place, and it’s encouraging to see. She tilts her head to the side, staring at Catra as if she’ll be able to find the cause of the change if she looks hard enough.

“I can feel you watching me,” Catra says dryly, shuffling her body around to properly confront her girlfriend, whose expression soon shifts from concern to the usual admiration.

“You just seemed different when you said that. But a good different. Are you alright?”

_The finale of the display begins, trail after trail launching into the sky. Red explodes into gold, gold into cyan, cyan into vibrant white. The crackle of explosions mixes with the shrill of the fireworks shooting upward, a loud whistling that echoes through the air._

A hint of redness flushes through Catra’s cheeks. She’s not sure why she feels slightly ashamed that Adora immediately noticed her small effort of self-improvement, but from the way her girlfriend gazes expectantly at her, waiting for an answer, it’s clear she can’t get away with shrugging off the question.

“Fine. I’m trying to be nicer to myself. I know it’s stupid, but…” she sees Adora’s face soften further, the usual look of wonder joined by one of immense respect. It gives her the incentive to continue, to fully bare her soul to the woman she loves, “Adora, most people in my life have hated me. And it made me hate myself; I thought ‘maybe they’re right’.”

Adora squeezes her hand in reassurance. It takes everything she has not to cut in and tell Catra she’s wrong, but she can see from the way her girlfriend’s gaze can only flicker up to her face for a split-second before dropping back to the floor that this is difficult for her. It’s clear she needs the space to say what she’s about to, without any interruption.

“But then there was you, Adora. You made me feel like I mattered, and you never stopped. When the world wrote me off, when I wrote myself off, you saw something worth fighting for. I don’t know what it was - honestly, I still don’t know what it is about me that made you come back for me, but I’m glad you did. And ever since I got off that ship, you haven’t once stopped trying to show me that I’m worth something. You _really_ don’t know when to give up, do you?”

Catra sniffles a laugh, only then realising that there are tears streaming down her face. They don’t come from sadness, nor happiness; this is relief. This is the thankfulness of knowing that for the first time in her life, she can safely reveal her most private feelings without fear, “But that’s the thing about you, Adora – you see the good in everyone. Even me. So, I figured that maybe I should try too. I know it’s only a small thing, to stop beating myself up like that, but I want to do it. I want to… no, I’m _going_ to be a better person, because you are worth it. I love you, Adora, and I’ll do anything for you.”

“I love you too,” the blonde’s right hand detaches from Catra’s left, moving up to press softly against her cheek. With the most delicate of touches, Adora lifts her girlfriend’s head until their eyes meet and the fire inside them communicates more about their love than any words they could say. Though no words indicate a plan, nor do any gestures signal any intent, the two lovers are each electrified by the same impulse, and the distance between them dwindles to nothing.

_Flowers of fuchsia bloom, fading to darkness as they are replaced with amber, then marigold, then aqua. Colour after colour in quick succession, as though each firework is trying to out-do the one that came before; to be brighter, to cover more of the sky, to be the one that stays in the minds of the scores watching._

Soft lips meet rough in a tender expression of passion that brings each young woman awareness of the intensity of their love for the other. Adora is Catra’s hero, her anchor, her inspiration. Catra is the reason Adora is here, the source of immense pride and unending respect. Without the other, each would be lost and incomplete, but together they are more than the sum of their parts. To Catra, Adora is everything, and to Adora, Catra is everything. They are the spark that allows each other to shine brighter than any firework ever could, and in moments like this, they both know that that are not in this life alone anymore.

_Above, the sky falls silent, the stars strewn across the deep purple visible once again. A solitary rocket shoots up, blossoming into a golden orb that blankets what seems like acres of sky. The sparks hang in the air, falling downward to extinguish themselves and return the heavens to darkness for the final time._

Their kiss reaches a natural end, though they stay close, foreheads and noses pressed together as eyes gaze into equally loving eyes. As the world seems to fall away for a precious few seconds, leaving them in a bubble of devotion isolated from the universe around them, Adora whispers softly to her girlfriend.

“You and me, Catra. Forever.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! You can find me on tumblr @lisshstuff


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